Multiple Sclerosis | Writing Wings

Sixty seems like an achievement and part of me wishes it was counted in books rather than years. Yet I am thankful that there have been that many years.

Another milestone decade has crept up on me and I sit here wondering where all those years went. What have I achieved? Were the years wasted or worthwhile?

On the work front, pre-Multiple Sclerosis, I had a failed photography business, an organic fruit & veg wholesale business that seemed to turn to compost – but was decades ahead of its time – and a TV & Film company that lost way too much money. On the plus side I had equestrian articles and photos published, and the two equestrian competitions that I kick-started are both thriving even though I have had to retire through ill-health.

What happens next? Not retirement exactly, since some scribbling of sorts has continued, even if I’ve reached six-zero. Hopefully there is time yet to finish what I’ve started, but curiosity asks the question: Do writers die clutching a pen or a keyboard… or a mouse?

Of course I’ve already been in my 60th year for a while – if you want to be technical. Some people were claiming I was in my 50^th year when I turned 49. Great!

After six decades what am I thinking about? Am I planning a great announcement? Perhaps, although what has really changed, is I am still learning to write. But it doesn’t help having a body that is in need of a retro-fit or something. MS does have aspects that warrant it being called the MonSter.

What do I want for my birthday? A new body? Maybe more time to get things done. But in practical terms I’ve decided that my life is pretty good as it is. I’ve found my soul mate and inspiration – and she is the most precious part of my world now. We have a great home with two adorable cats, even when they interrupt our play or scratch the new furniture.

And the launch of my first book, ‘Spiral of Hooves’ grows nearer every day. First of sixty perhaps. It would be nice to envisage a row of leather bound books on a dark wood shelf in a paneled library. But the reality is more likely to be an e-reader with at most a dozen titles. However, there are only seven titles in the pipeline, including ‘Spiral of Hooves’, and although first drafts only take a month or three, the editing process takes ages = months stretching to years. Better get revising then.

Perhaps I need to re-evaluate my progress at the end of the next decade. Seems like a plan – along with the bookshelf.

Antique Books (Photo credit: Robert Benner Sr.)

Life is simpler on the back roads (countryclassphotography.wordpress.com)
Innovative Multiple Sclerosis Treatments May Be On The Way, Thanks To New Nerve Cell Findings (medicaldaily.com)
Top 10 Myths About Multiple Sclerosis (abcnews.go.com)
8 Fulfilling Careers For Retirees (businessinsider.com)
Study: Later retirement may help prevent dementia (jsonline.com)
Ten Bad Reasons to Avoid Retirement (humor.gunaxin.com)

Words have a power all their own (Photo credit: Lynne Hand)

The word is on the tip of my tongue, or is it in my fingers poised above the keyboard. Wherever it is I need to find that dang word but I can’t. As I work through the current draft of Wyrm Bait, or in a few months some other novel, there are words that don’t read right. When nothing comes out of my addled head, I spend time delving for a better one in the Flip Dictionary, a really useful aid created by Barbara Ann Kipfer for The Writer’s Digest, which I prefer over a conventional thesaurus.

However hard I attempt to find dozens of phrases and words to change on every page of my manuscript, failure dogs my endeavours. Why? Conventional wisdom suggests that at the detailed editing stage I should be honing each word or phrase, since previous drafts only tackled the broader brush-strokes. In fact the number of edits should be nearer six if not more. What am I missing? Am I rushing? I’ve given myself two months at the rate of 8 pages per day. Or am I still too involved with my creation and unwilling to address its failings?

Maybe my writing process has eliminated the need to do repeated revisions. I plot my novels in detail and each day, before I write anything, I think through the next scene in my head. When I type, I don’t always churn out words as they come to mind. I craft my phrases a little but not at the expense of the flow. I also glance through my work at the end of each day or the following morning. Am I editing as I write?

I fear there is another answer. Word selection fails when I talk and I can ascribe that to my MS. Gradually the stress and the exhaustion has robbed me of my ability to remember even simple words. Sometimes I talk rubbish and I only pray that my writing isn’t close behind. Admittedly I can use the wrong word or hit the wrong keys but I call that a co-ordination relapse. When I was an equestrian journalist, remembering names of horses and riders’ faces was straightforward and essential. Now I forget friends’ names and the titles of song that I love by ?*&%$£?)(

Picture of Hollywood sign (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

If only I hadn’t blown my money on Hollywood dreams, I might have the savings now to employ an editor with a better brain; or at least one without lesions.

Talk to you all next week. Good writing from The Silver Scribbler.